In VitroInfection ofTrypanosoma cruziCauses Decrease in Glucose Transporter Protein-1 (GLUT1) Expression in Explants of Human Placental Villi Cultured under Normal and High Glucose Concentrations

Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic Chagas' disease agent, induces changes in protein pattern of the human placenta syncytiotrophoblast. The glucose transporter protein-1 (GLUT1) is the primary isoform involved in transplacental glucose transport. We carried outin vitroassays to determine ifT. cruziinfection would induce changes in placental GLUT1 protein expression under normal and high concentration of glucose. Using Western blot and immunohistological techniques, GLUT1 expression was determined in normal placental villi cultured under normal or high concentrations of glucose, with or withoutin vitro T. cruziinfection, for 24 and 48 hours. High glucose media orT. cruziinfection alone reduced GLUT1 expression. A yet more accentuated reduction was observed when infection and high glucose condition took place together. We inform, for the first time, thatT. cruziinfection may induce reduction of GLUT1 expression under normal and high glucose concentrations, and this effect is synergic to high glucose concentrations.